When pastors lose their faith

Strange Herring tells of a pastor in the Netherlands who does not believe in God, but who still insists on the right to minister in the Protestant state church.

I have long thought that a major source of liberal theology is pastors and theological professors losing their faith, but instead of being honest and leaving their positions, they decide, instead, to attempt to change all of Christian theology so that it conforms to their unbelief so that they can keep their jobs.

It is true, though, that God works through a pastor, by virtue of his calling, administering valid sacraments and effectual preaching of God’s Word, even if the pastor turns out to be an unbeliever. Right? We don’t want to be Donatists (see Augsburg Confession Article VIII). But doesn’t the atheist pastor need to go?